The Color of Melted Snow
by Jemennuie
Summary: Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon go on an Order of the Phoenix mission during the first war. Two-shot. No pairings.
1. Before the Battle

**The Color of Melted Snow**

The look Sirius was giving Marlene McKinnon would have seemed to suggest that he thought she was crazy.

He did think she was crazy.

The alternative was that she had horribly misinterpreted what he said, but he preferred to just think that she was crazy, because that kept any of the blame off of him for not stating things clearly enough.

She was sitting at the kitchen table, nearly hidden behind a pile of clutter—a lopsided purse, scattered stacks of paper, a pair of sunglasses, a few Muggle coins—and carefully regarding what looked like half of the contents of a make-up store's wares in front of her, with some sort of brush carefully poised in her right hand. He had asked her to accompany him on an Order of the Phoenix mission, but this sort of scene was much more reminiscent of a girl prepping herself for a date, which was just enough to make him give an awkward cough and start thinking of ways to politely reject her. It wasn't that she was a specifically unpleasant person, per se, just that she wasn't really the type of person he'd want to be in a relationship with. She was overly flirty, for one: if something was alive and male she would flirt with it and, if the rumors about the mermen were true, the male being human wasn't even a requirement.

He gave a haughty, attention-getting cough. "You do know why I'm here, right?"

She seemed to still be focusing her attention on the compacts, mascara brushes, and lip gloss tubes in front of her, but lightly replied, "I know. You're here for an Order mission—"

"I was just wondering because you're making yourself up," Sirius abruptly justified his inquiry.

She raised an eyebrow. "This isn't for you. But, as I was saying before you interrupted me," she gave a melodramatic sigh while comparing two colors of foundation in the light, "We're going on an Order mission, because you assumed I wouldn't have any other plans on a Friday evening."

"Seeing as you don't have a job, and you still live at your parents' house, I don't think asking you to accompany me on an Order mission is that unreasonable of a demand on your time," he said with rising annoyance in his voice.

"Those are assumptions in themselves, aren't they?" she airily replied, snapping open one of her compacts and starting to run her brush over the peach-colored foundation.

"I'm guessing you have more free time than James, my normal partner, considering he has both a job and a baby to care for. Unless you managed to find someone to hire you since I last talked to you?"

"No, what fun would that be?"

Merlin, she may have just graduated Hogwarts, but she acted like she was still a Fourth Year. "Jobs aren't supposed to be fun, McKinnon. Life isn't a game," he stated dryly.

"Oh, really? I was under the impression that it was." Sirius snapped open his mouth to respond but was at a loss as to what to say. Finally he decided that as they were supposed to be partners, it'd probably be best if he at least attempted to salvage some sort of potential camaraderie between them and thus declined to say anything further. After snapping shut her foundation, she broke the silence again, "So what exactly is our mission?"

"We're trailing Lestrange. I've been keeping an eye on him for the past week, and he's spent every single evening having dinner at the Hog's Head. Always alone. Always sitting in the corner and just silently looking around the room."

"So we're spending our time and energy, not to mention risking aggravating a potential Death Eater, because he likes eating at the Hog's Head?" she condescended.

"It's not that simple, McKinnon," Sirius snapped, annoyed at being made to feel rather overly simplistic. "He must be up to something. Maybe he's scoping out the area for an attack. Or maybe there's someone at the Hog's Head he's keeping an eye on—that would explain why he keeps people-watching. He's already a suspected Death Eater, so if we could just get evidence—"

"I like people watching when I eat out—does that make me a Death Eater?" her words came from behind the small mirror she was carefully regarding herself in.

"Of course not," he stated indignantly, "It's just that, I mean—"

"Or here, here's another idea. Maybe he's noticed that you've likewise been at the Hog's Head for every evening this past week, so he's actually there to watch you, because he thinks you're up to something."

"Well, I mean, that's just ridiculous," his hesitating response came. "Why would a Death Eater care about what I'm doing? I mean—hrm, I am an Order member, but, I mean, we don't plan attacks, so why would Death Eaters want to know the Order's plans? I mean—er—I guess it never hurts to know what the other side is doing but, uh—why are you wasting so much time putting make-up on, anyways?" he snapped, interrupting his searching words while she disinterestedly regarded him and continued applying blush. "It's not like make-up is necessary for a mission."

"Isn't it?" she asked with a rather rhetorical tone.

"Not unless it's going to make you invisible, or protect you from curses. In which case, hell, pass the eye shadow over, and I'll slather some on before we leave."

"You don't 'slather' on make-up," she scornfully replied. "You apply it, brush it on, you sculpt. It's all about creating a perfect face for the world to see."

Sirius thought he had been spared a longer response when she picked up a pink powder and continued speaking in a rather authoritative tone, "See, take blush for instance. If you use a light, warm pink and apply it in circles, then that gives you a younger, more innocent air. Like a doll. But if you want to appear a bit older, more eye-catching, then you use a slightly darker shade and apply it in a line, because that gives the allusion of shadows which, in turn makes it look like you have more defined cheek bones." Sirius blinked at her lengthy explanation and rather regretted having mentioned anything. "Which color should I use?" she abruptly turned towards him and held out two eye shadow compacts: a glittering white and a more muted light grey.

"I don't know," he replied, disconcerted. "That one," he clumsily pointed towards the white shade. She set them both down on the table before thoughtfully continuing to regard both of them with a pensive look on her face. "Did you hear about Benjy Fenwick?" Sirius interrupted, desperate to change the topic of conversation so he wouldn't quite feel so much like someone waiting for their date to finish primping.

With a loud clattering sound the compact she had just picked up fell to the table. She swiftly snatched it from the table's mess with her stubby fingers before messily grabbing a brush with which to apply the light grey eye shadow and coolly replying, "Pieces, they say."

"Pieces?"

"They only ever found pieces—" and here her disinterested tone was broken for a split second, and the last word spilled out rather more high-pitched and tense than the surrounding words. With large swipes, she started hastily applying the eye shadow before continuing in her previously controlled, self-absorbed tone, "They only ever found pieces of him."

"Oh. Yes, I had heard about that," Sirius mutely replied.

"Do they even have enough to bury?" she asked, her eyes unmovingly fixed to the compact in front of her.

Sirius uncomfortably shifted his weight; those weren't the type of details he wanted to be thinking about, much less discussing. "I imagine the funeral will have a coffin, for show if nothing else."

"What should I wear?" she abruptly asked.

"Merlin, McKinnon, we're going on a mission, not a date! It doesn't matter what you wear," he exasperatedly stated, feeling rather as though he wished they could just hurry up and leave for the Hog's Head.

"I meant to the funeral, Black," she disinterestedly replied, only spending a fraction of a second to lazily flick her eyes in his direction.

"I don't know," he awkwardly started, "You know your wardrobe better than I do."

"But what would be respectful?" she pressed.

"Whatever you wore to previous funerals would be fine," he replied, starting to get annoyed again. Really, it wasn't like he was a fashion connoisseur or anything.

The lines around her mouth tensed for a second before she replied, "I've never been to a funeral before."

"Never?" he incredulously stated.

"I've never known anyone that died before," she simply stated, before vigorously continuing her application of make-up.

He supposed that she hadn't been a member of the Order for very long, and Hogwarts was always rather sheltered, so in retrospect the fact that Fenwick was the first person she knew who had died wasn't terribly surprising. "You wear black," he finally respectfully responded. "Traditionally the men and women are supposed to wear brimmed hats. I think they're supposed to keep your gaze from wandering too far away, keep your eyes focused on the ground. I don't know how much Fenwick would have actually cared about tradition, though."

"Thank you," she replied in a clipped voice.

Sirius nodded in response and started drumming his fingers on the table while waiting for her to finish the last touches on her make-up. "Ready to go?" he eagerly asked when she started replacing the brush in its case.

"Just a second," she patiently replied, neatly organizing all of her various make-up components before gently sliding them into a bag and taking out one last foundation compact, scrutinizing herself in its small mirror. "Don't you think I'd make a beautiful corpse?" the words spilled out of her in an uncontrolled stream.

Sirius gave her a puzzled, uncomprehending look. What on earth was she going on about? "Absolutely exquisite," he dryly replied. "Now let's hurry up and get going."

She glanced at him over the top of her compact and, seemingly satisfied, slipped it into her pocket. "Not like Fenwick," she murmured to herself. "I'll never end up like Fenwick. Never."

They apparated to the border of Hogsmeade and started quickly making their way to the Hog's Head, the cold winter air biting at the exposed skin of their faces. The snow lining the streets from the recent snowfall had, for the most part, melted into a grey-brown slush that was undisturbed only on the roofs of the stores. Upon entering the Hog's Head, they shed their outermost coats and surreptitiously took a table in a poorly lit corner of the disreputable establishment.

"So we're going to pretend that we're just two people having dinner, all the meantime observing Lestrange, right?" McKinnon quietly muttered to her partner.

Sirius nodded and, with a slight gesture of his pointer finger, added, "That's Lestrange on the other side of the restaurant. The one with shoulder length brown hair and a beard."

A waitress stopped by to take their orders who Sirius hastily sent on their way, all the meantime keeping his gaze focused on the Lestrange's table. "I thought we were supposed to pretend that we were just two diners," she lightly reprimanded him.

"We are," he replied, not particularly paying attention on his partner's words.

She crossed her arms and condescendingly asked, "Don't you think it might look suspicious if we're sitting here, doing nothing but boring holes into Lestrange's head with our eyes?"

He shrugged. "The food's awful here, and it's not like he—" Sirius jerked his head towards the potential Death Eater they were observing "--will notice whether we're eating or not."

"Just like we're not noticing him," she coolly, sarcastically replied.

"Exac—er—well—" At that moment Lestrange placed a few coins on his table, and started walking towards the exit. "Moot point," Sirius abruptly added, feeling rather as though he had been saved by the bell. After waiting long enough for him to just step outside the door, the two Order members stealthily slid out of their seats and grabbed their coats.

"What does he normally do now?" McKinnon quickly asked, moving her wand to a more easily accessible pocket.

"Normally he apparates away. But let's follow him as far as we can, anyways," he spoke, his quiet words being stolen away by a cold gust of air. Their object of observation was a few store fronts down, regarding the darkened windows of a closed shop with a rather dull expression on his face. With a barely perceptible twitch, he turned his head slightly in the direction of the two Order members, causing both of them to immediately jerk their heads in the opposite direction and pretend to find the Hog's Head sign terribly fascinating.

"Would he recognize either of us?" she hastily whispered.

"I don't know. Not you. Maybe me; he is married to my cousin, after all, and Bella probably knows that I'm an Order member," Sirius replied, twisting his neck to shoot a glance towards Lestrange. "He's not looking over here anymore. He's walking the opposite direction. Let's keep following." Without any more words, and the only sound between them the quiet crushing of ice crystals beneath their shoes, they continued trailing the Death Eater in as subtle of a manner as they could, frequently stopping to pretend to show interest in the different store fronts.

Sirius couldn't help but wonder where in Merlin's name he was going. Lestrange had never walked this far away from the center of Hogsmeade after visiting the Hog's Head before; they were starting to reach the outskirts of the small town, the stores becoming more distantly spaced, the road a bit more heavily covered with snow, and trees and other signs of wilderness more common. His Order partner seemed to be having similar thoughts for she gave him a wondering look, but what could they do? This development proved promising, and they couldn't give up on that just because the path was starting to become more poorly-lit and less-well cared for.

They had well passed the Shrieking Shack now, and despite walking towards what was essentially untamed forest and solid blackness, Lestrange made no show of even slowing his pace. Sirius felt his heart rate speed up. What if this was the meeting spot for some Death Eaters? Perhaps they were using this isolated spot to concoct some deadly plan, and if they could just catch them in the act…

The lights of Hogsmeade were now but distant memories and, as engrossed in his thoughts as he was, Sirius failed to realize that the distinct sound of Lestrange's footsteps had ceased until McKinnon roughly grabbed his arm and forced him to stop walking. His eyes helplessly searched the pitch black in front of him and he idly thought that while Moony may have been more than happy for it to be a new moon, he would have much preferred a full moon; Voldemort himself could have been standing an inch from Sirius's face, and he wouldn't have realized it.

There was a distinct _crack!_ sound some distance away, which left Sirius to wonder whether Lestrange had disapparated or whether he was being joined by another Death Eater. After a few moments of hearing nothing but his and McKinnon's attempts to breathe as quietly as possible, there was yet another _crack!_ sound. So either someone had disapparted and then apparated, or two people had apparated or—

Sirius's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a several meter long, scythe-shaped swath of purple light cutting its way through the air as it headed directly for him and McKinnon. It lit up the whole clearing for a few seconds, giving him just enough time to see that Lestrange was now accompanied by another, similar-looking man, and that McKinnon had already leapt towards the side to avoid the curse. Barely throwing himself to the ground in time, he felt a sudden heat as the scythe-like curse passed over his head, and only a fraction of a second later the spell had vanished, plunging them all into complete darkness again.

…

A/N: This is going to be a two-shot, and the second half should be going up within a few days, so check back soon. As always, constructive criticism and general feedback is greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marlene McKinnon, Benjy Fenwick, the Lestranges, etc.


	2. The Battle

**The Color of Melted Snow**

In the still darkness that followed the attacking curse, Sirius heard a vaguely surprised man's voice murmur, "And here I thought you were exaggerating when you said you were being followed."

"Would I lie to my brother?" a similarly quiet voice replied.

"Did I say you were lying?" The politely phrased rhetorical question came in response while Sirius, his breath ragged in his chest and his mind racing, started planning how he should retaliate.

The slight respite given to him by the Lestrange brothers to consider, though, was cut short when they cut short their conversation, and soon the clearing was quiet except for a slight breeze and the sound of snow crystals being lightly crushed underneath someone's feet; Sirius guessed it was the two Lestranges, but he supposed McKinnon could have also been maneuvering herself, positioning herself for the inevitable dual. Sirius crept into a standing position as quietly as he could, brushing the snow off of the front of his robes with one hand while holding his wand in front of him with the other.

"_Wahrnehmungen_!" two voices cried, one immediately after the other. A faded stream of orange light burst from two wand tips and provided just enough light to reveal that Rodolphus was some distance away to his left, whereas Rabastan was directly in front of him.

A blur coming from behind him flew past the outermost edges of his vision but, before he could make out what it was, the light stopped and in the complete darkness all he could hear was the whizzing sound of it flying through the air before hitting something very solid with a resonating _thunk_. McKinnon seemed to have likewise considered a dual inevitable, and to follow suit, Sirius quickly sent off a stunning spell directly in front of him. The path of light it carved, though, only showed that Rabastan had moved, while simultaneously giving away Sirius's own location, and yielding a barrage of spells flying his direction.

"_Protego_!" McKinnon's voice cried, and in a blinding collision of light worthy of a fireworks display, the spells stopped mere inches from his nose.

"_Stupefy!_" Sirius clumsily sent another stunning spell in the vague direction of the offending curses. Once again it hit nothing, and the only response was the sound of running feet, heaving breaths and crunching snow.

"_Laehmung!" _Instead of a jet of light, Sirius felt a wave of warmth travel across the other side of the clearing, leaving him to wonder if that was where McKinnon was, or if the Lestrange brother was also aiming blindly.

"_Unterbrechung!_"

There was a loud _bang!_ sound and, after a few seconds of hurried steps, there was a high pitched "Oof!" and what sounded like someone falling into a snow drift. McKinnon? His heart beating loudly in his ears, amplified by the adrenaline coursing through his veins, Sirius started racing towards the source of the sound but was quickly stopped by a collision with something that was tall, decidedly solid, and had also been moving a moment before.

Both of them went crashing to the ground, with a grunt on Sirius's part and an expletive on the other man's part. Just as Sirius made to scramble out of Lestrange's range, he felt a hand grab onto his ankle very tightly, and heard a nearby voice cry out "Dolph!"

"Let go of me, bastard!" Sirius hissed under his breath, desperately trying to writhe free from his firm grip. One position he, nor anybody else, ever wanted to be in during a dual was in physical contact with a Death Eater. All they would have to do is apparate away and you would go with them, never to be heard from again. If you were lucky, your body might be found in some alley weeks later. With another twist of his body, Sirius lifted his free leg away and brought it back down with a swift kicking motion. A miss. Another attempt brought contact between the sole of his shoe and what felt like some part of Rabastan's face.

The gripping hand remained unmoved though, and was instead accompanied by a more pained, hastily spoken version of the previously spoken word."Dolph!"

"Rab?"

"_Defodio!_" McKinnon's voice cried.

"_Gegenteil_!" The word hastily left Rodolphus's mouth, and the two spells meeting in mid-air caused a sprinkling of light to fill the clearing.

"_Flagarante!_" McKinnon cried again, and this time Sirius felt a sudden burning pain where Rabastan's hand was wrapped around his ankle. Rabastan seemed to have felt it too, for with a cry of pain the hand disappeared from Sirius's ankle, giving Sirius the split second necessary to scramble into a standing position and put as much distance between him and Rabastan as necessary.

The searing pain encircling his leg had failed to cease, though, and it was starting to feel like any moment his foot was simply going to fall off, its connection to his leg burned into nothingness. "Counter curse!" he authoritatively yelled his request in what he believed to be McKinnon's general direction.

A man's voice yelling "_Erfrierung!_" was the only response his spoken word received, and the frozen crystals Lestrange's curse conjured were left to splinter against the protective surface of his shield charm.

A second later he felt a searching hand tentatively grab his shoulder, before it hastily, almost violently, grabbed the material of his outer cloak in a wrapping motion around their fingers. Sirius felt a surge of terror at what felt like the beginning of someone preparing a firm grip for apparition, and jerkily yelled "_Expelliarmus_!" in the direction of the offending person.

At the burst of red light exploding from the tip of his wand, he was greeted by the sight of McKinnon's very surprised face inches from his as her wand went from flying from between her fingertips to land in the snow several feet behind her.

Sirius gaped at her, feeling rather as though he ought to offer some sort of apology for mistaking her for Lestrange, but before he could even think of what to say, she had grabbed his wand lightning fast, hastily muttered the counter curse and shoved it back into the palm of his hand. In the complete blackness that had quickly reclaimed the scene after his spell, he could only hear the hurried crunching of snow beneath her feet as she presumably went to retrieve her wand.

There was suddenly the sound of a woman's gasp, more crushed ice crystals, and the start of a scuffle.

"Don't you—"

"I'll teach you to—"

"Bloody h—"

"Get your hands—"

"Rab!"

"Black!"

Sirius's eyes helplessly searched the darkness in front of him, his ears attempting to filter out the individual sounds to create a coherent picture from the garbled, overlapping phrases, the scuffling of feet, the shifting sound of moving bodies, and what sounded like two people hitting each other in some sort of tussle.

"Dolph?" An uneasy, uncomprehending voice came from somewhere behind Sirius, and without a thought in his mind except the blood pounding against his ears, he reflexively sent a spell in the direction of the voice.

The ray of light from the spell briefly illuminated the dirt-streaked face of a man who seemed caught very off guard but, by quickly ducking, managed to avoid any ill repercussions.

"Hey! You attack my brother again and she'll—" the voice of Rodolphus Lestrange was cut off by him giving a pained sort of grunt, and the sounds of the skirmish intensified again.

"Let go of m—"

"I'll show y—"

Rodolphus gave another cry of pain, before all of the shuffling sounds almost entirely disappeared, replaced by a sudden strangled gasping sound on McKinnon's part.

"I've got you now," Rodolphus's voice crooned. "Now let's see how much Black cares about his precious little girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend," McKinnon's spiteful words bravely left her strangled throat.

"Whoever you are, you're bargaining power," he dryly replied. "Rab, give me some light!"

"Er—_lumos_?" the other Lestrange brother sloppily lit the tip of his wand and created a small sphere of light that was just barely enough to illuminate himself.

Sirius, still too unsure what was happening by Rodolphus and McKinnon to risk attacking in that direction, instead sent another spell towards the now conveniently lit Rabastan, who immediately cast a shield charm before extinguishing his lit wand.

"I _said_, don't attack my brother again." Rodolphus's hissed words were ominously accompanied by another choking sound from McKinnon.

"Don't—listen—to—hi—" McKinnon managed to courageously splutter out a few words before being abruptly cut off again.

"Here's an idea for light," the non-occupied Lestrange brother muttered to himself before bellowing, "_ANZUENDE!_" A thin ribbon of flickering red light unsuspectingly flew from the tip of his wand, before contacting with a leafless tree. The tree promptly exploded into flames, bathing the clearing with an uneasy, flickering orange light. Sirius, still standing with his wand out and his feet set apart, could now see that Rodolphus had McKinnon in a chokehold, the tip of his wand menacingly jabbing her cheek, while her wand was lying untouched on the snow several paces away from them.

Sirius felt his breath catch in his throat. All Rodolphus would have to do is apparate away, and she would disappear, probably to end up just like Fenwick. "Let go of McKinnon," Sirius stated in the most threatening, authoritative voice he could, rage and fear forming a toxic mixture in his veins.

Sirius's words did not have the intended effect; instead, Rodolphus's eyebrows instead shot up and a gleeful look appeared on his face, the corners of his mouth curling up in a sinister smile. "_McKinnon?_" He jerked his arm a bit more tightly around her neck, until her head was so close to his that his lips were practically brushing her ear. "Why McKinnon's a _Mudblood_ name," he murmured in a twisted depiction of someone whispering in their lover's ear, one that caused Sirius to shudder at the mere thought of Lestrange's rancid breath against his ears. "See, I don't believe in harming pure bloods, even if they are _blood traitors_." In contrast to his lyrical perversion of a story-telling tone, he loudly spat the last word, causing McKinnon to flinch in another attempt to worm away from such close proximity to him. "Because blood traitors can still be redeemed but, Mudbloods, that's a different story. So if you're just a Mudblood, why, then we can have ourselves a bit of _fun_." For a split second the stubbornly brave, unconcerned expression on McKinnon's was replaced by one of sheer terror, before being forced out again by a blank mask.

Accompanying the surge of adrenaline in Sirius's veins, there was a sudden increase in the volume of the blood pounding against his ears. Not another casualty. They couldn't have another casualty so soon after Fenwick. He had to keep Rodolphus talking until he could figure out some way to break his Order partner free from the Death Eater's grasp. "What do you want from me, Lestrange?" Sirius coldly asked. If only Rodolphus wasn't holding McKinnon directly in front of himself; as it was, the only part of him not protected by her was a portion of his face.

"I was going to say for you to stop following me, but now that I have your Mudblood maybe that's all I want, hm?" he taunted.

With a sudden, wordless swipe of Sirius's wand, there was a spurt of red, a cry from Rodolphus, and a strangled gasp from McKinnon as both of them toppled over backwards. Sirius couldn't spare the second to see what had happened, though, for without missing a beat, Rabastan was now flying towards him, curse after curse easily aimed in the light provided by the burning tree. From the corner of his eye, Sirius could see McKinnon jumping up, kicking herself off of Rodolphus's fallen body in a leap for her wand, swiping it up and joining the dual in one fluid motion. There was a moist splatter of red on her face, but as Rodolphus also lumbered to join the battle, it was clear that he was the one who had been hit by Sirius's spell, a bloody gash across his face.

"Sirs, ma'am, what are all of you doing when there is a fire to be put out?!" a crotchety voice from the path to Hogsmeade boomed. For a split second, the duel froze to a stop as all four of them turned and saw the appearance of what looked like a crowd of shopkeepers and residents from Hogsmeade. "Why, that tree'll catch the entire forest on fire if it's not put out soon!"

With a sudden _crack!_ Rodolphus disapparated, leaving Rabastan to exclaim "Dolph!" before likewise disapparating.

"We were just about to start extinguishing the fire," McKinnon smoothly replied to the leader of the small crowd, before nonchalantly conjuring waves of water. Once the last flickering remnants of the flame had completely vanished, the crowd disbanded, leaving McKinnon and Sirius to stroll back to Hogsmeade alone.

"That was a fun little mission," McKinnon lightly spoke, not a trace of sarcasm to her words.

Sirius gave her a disbelieving look, before stating quite seriously, "Are you insane?"

"No, what makes you say that?"

"Because—because do you have any idea what could have happened to you there?" Sirius spluttered, angered at being made to feel ridiculous for being fearful during the battle for even a moment. "Lestrange could have just apparated away and taken you with him. Do you know what that means? You would have been killed. Dead. Kaputt."

Her mouth pursed into a tight line before she reached into her pocket and took out her compact. "Oh, I got some blood on me," she disinterestedly spoke, regarding her made-up reflection in the small mirror.

"Are you even listening to me?" he snapped. They had essentially just risked death, angered all of Hogsmeade, and failed their mission, and here she was focusing on make-up!

She snapped her compact shut without removing the spot of blood on her cheek. "No, I heard you. I just disagree. Because I'm going to live forever."

"Because—what?" Sirius interrupted himself, utterly confused.

"Because I'm going to live forever," she simply repeated, her vocal chords tensing slightly.

"Because—because you're going to…You're insane," he derisively shook his head. "I trust you can apparate back home on your own, I'm leaving."

He turned to apparate and, before disappearing on the spot, saw only the perfectly made-up, perfectly presentable face of what he thought to be a vain, immature girl. So when she loudly repeated to no one in particular, "I'm going to live forever!" he did not notice the disbelieving tremor to her words, and did not hear her fearfully mutter under her breath "Not like Fenwick. I'll never end up like Fenwick. Never."

…

A/N: Normally I put my thank you's at the end of the fic, although it struck me that it probably would have made more sense to put this 'thank you' at the beginning. But, anyways, a huge thank you to Kashy for beta-ing this two-shot. I hope all of you enjoyed reading it and, of course, reviews are always greatly appreciated.


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